Several men were at a home at 3028 Hanger Avenue when a 24-year-old man pulled out a handgun. According to the man, he was unaware that the gun was loaded and shot the victim in the head, just above his left eye.

The boy and his grandfather were roughhousing together in the living room of a home on the 14000 block of East Jacobs Road when a handgun in a concealed holster on the grandfather’s belt went off, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The bullet went through the boy’s right calf.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

The 17-year-old senior who was in a coma after being shot point-blank at a Colorado high school last week died Saturday with her family at her side, hospital officials said.

Claire Esther Davis, a senior at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., was critically injured when student Karl Halverson Pierson, 18, entered the school building on Dec. 13 armed with a shotgun and Molotov cocktail bombs. (...)

Authorities said Pierson's attack lasted just 80 seconds. Officials believe the teen was angry after losing his coveted spot on the debate team.

"His intent was evil and his evil intent was to harm multiple individuals," Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said last week.

Upon entering the school, Robinson said, Pierson fired one round down the hallway. He then shot Claire, who just happened to be sitting nearby with a friend as he headed toward the library. Claire suffered severe head trauma, which put her in a coma.

Robinson said Claire was an innocent victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Police in Arizona say that a toddler accidentally shot himself in the face with his parent’s gun. The 3 year-old boy is dead.

Officer Philip Steele told KVOA that the shooting occurred on Friday night at the family’s home in Sahuarita, south of Tucson. (...) According to Steele, the parents told investigators the firearm was inadvertently misplaced for a short time, which is when the child found it.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

According to the affidavit, McDaniel was showing Peters and the two other men a shotgun and a handgun. Dajuan Williams, one of the men, told police that "McDaniel tried to get Aubrey to hold the gun, but she didn't want to."

At that point, Williams told police, McDaniel ejected the magazine from the gun, pointed the weapon at Peters, took the safety off and pulled the trigger.

McDaniel apparently thought the gun was empty, the affidavit said, but when he pulled the trigger, a round fired.

"Aubrey clutched her chest and said, 'What just happened?' " the affidavit said. Williams told police that while he attempted to help Peters, McDaniel gave the men a story to tell police.

"McDaniel then stated, 'The story is the gun fell off the table and went off,' " the affidavit said.

Police responded to the scene after 6 p.m. where they found the boy inside the home suffering from a gun shot wound to the head. The child was then rushed to Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition and later died of his injuries.

Investigators have indicated that they believe the child accidentally shot himself in the head after he pulled the gun off a kitchen counter.

A neighbor to the family said "I've known they had guns; they've carried them in public on their side, they've got permits for them and I just thought they always were a little bit more responsible than that,"

The child lived in Indiana.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

New details are emerging in a triple homicide/suicide in which a man allegedly shot and killed two of his grandchildren and his daughter's boyfriend before turning the shotgun on himself. (...)

Witnesses said they thought Adams fired a warning shot into the air, but had actually shot Williams, who later died.

Adams' daughter ran outside and tried to keep him from shooting inside the car, but he ran around the other side of the car and shot 4-month-old Chastyn Williams. The only motive they have so far in these two killings is that Adams didn't like Michael Williams, and had even referred to him and the infant as "being demons," Sheriff Brown says.

Adams then shot his 4-year-old granddaughter, Kierra Adams, in the back after chasing her, her grandmother and another child out of a bedroom in which they had barricaded themselves.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Cross County Sheriff J. R. Smith says the 10 year old was shot with a .22-caliber pistol in the stomach area at a home east of Wynne, off Hwy. 64. The child was flown to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital while his injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Fayetteville police said officers responded to 1608 Stanford Court around 10:45 a.m. in reference to a child being shot. Upon arrival, emergency responders performed life-saving techniques on Killian Perez but the he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An investigation revealed the boy located and retrieved a loaded handgun that was stored on the top of a refrigerator. Police said the child then was able to manipulate the gun and shot himself.

The father has been arrested for involuntary manslaughter.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Warren County Coroner Doug Huskie says that 6-year-old Jamerica Ragsdale died at 1:36 Thursday morning. She was shot in the head Tuesday at her grandmother's home on Cooper Drive, west of Vicksburg.

There was a 16 year old in the house in an adjacent bedroom handling a 22 caliber pistol," said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace. "The firearm discharged. The projectile went through the wall of the bedroom into the living room where the child was standing and struck the child in the head."

"Yeah it was an accident," said Nikia Ragsdale, Jamerica's uncle. "But he shouldn't been playing with guns."

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

A man and a 7-month-old boy were fatally shot in an apparent ambush on a New Orleans bridge.

Someone opened fire on the 25-year-old man Wednesday night as he rode in the back seat of a black Honda Accord on the Crescent City Connection bridge, police spokesman Frank B. Robertson III told The Associated Press.

The boy was in a car seat beside the man, Robertson said. He says a woman who was driving and another woman who was a front-seat passenger were not hurt.

RPD Public Information Officer Drew Latch stated police responded to 2409 E. Main St. (Walmart) at approximately 11:04 a.m. Saturday. in reference to a possible shooting. Upon arrival, officers witnessed a man who had injuries to his back. After further investigation, it was determined the man had accidentally been shot by his child. While the child was attempting to enter the vehicle, the child accidentally grabbed a hold of a loaded shotgun, that had not been secured, to help pull himself into the vehicle (truck).

While grabbing the shotgun the child accidentally pulled the trigger and caused the shotgun to discharge and strike his father in the back.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Friday, November 1, 2013

A Tennessee man is facing multiple charges after shooting a 15-year-old boy with a shotgun when he saw him using toilet paper to “roll” a neighbor’s home.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Chris Guess told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that Dale Bryant Farris had observed several teens spreading toilet paper around the yard of Huntland School Principal Ken Bishop on the night of Oct. 20.

“Some kids got out at a residence over there to roll it with toilet paper and this gentleman came out of his residence a couple of houses over and shot one of the teenagers who was rolling this other guy’s yard,” the officer explained.

“He got peppered pretty good,” Guess said. “The problem is they were not on his [Farris'] property and they were not doing anything to his property.”

According to the Times Free Press, the teen was shot “in the right foot, inner left knee, right palm, right thigh and right side of his torso above the waistline.”

Since it is becoming difficult to keep up with all of the gun incidents and shootings of and by children, we will refer you to a recent post by Joe Nocera who writes a regular Gun Report in which he is keeping track of the shootings and gun incidents since the Newtown shooting last December. In this particular post, there were a lot of kid shooting incidents. Here they are from the post:

A 2-year-old girl was shot at an apartment building in Bangor, Maine, Wednesday afternoon. A neighbor believes the shooting was accidental, and that the gun went off when it hit the floor. The child’s family was home at the time.

—Bangor Daily News

Three children—ages 3, 5 and 7—were shot while sleeping in their home in Jackson, Miss., early Wednesday. Someone in a vehicle opened fire on their home just after midnight. Investigators are trying to identify the target of the shooting.

—ClarionLedger.com

An 11-year-old boy was shot in the shoulder in southwest Atlanta, Ga., Wednesday night. His brother carried him a few houses down the street to their home, where a family member called 911. Investigators believe the child was struck as two groups of people exchanged gunfire in the street. No one is in custody.

—AJC.com

A 13-year-old girl was wounded when a bullet came through her bedroom wall in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday afternoon. Police said a firearm accidentally discharged when her 14-year-old cousin was trying to unload it in a bathroom. Detectives are trying to identify who provided the boy with the firearm, which has not been located.

—The Tampa Tribune

A 14-year-old boy was shot in the chest and arm in the Knoxville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pa., Tuesday evening. The victim and several of his friends were sitting on a porch when someone came out from between two homes and began shooting. Police said the victim is not cooperating.

—WPXI.com

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the chest and critically injured and a man was shot in the back in the Sixth Ward of New Orleans, La., Wednesday night. Police haven’t announced a suspect or a motive.

—WWLTV.com

A 16-year-old student at Woodrow Wilson High school in Dallas, Tex., was shot and wounded in a park near the campus Tuesday afternoon. Emilio Tovar, 19, who graduated from the school two years ago, walked into a police station and surrendered. He claimed friends on Facebook framed him.

—WFAA.com

A 16-year-old boy was shot and wounded while walking with his friends in north St. Louis, Mo., Tuesday night. Someone took out a gun and began firing at the group. The victim tried to run away but realized he had been shot in the back. An investigation is ongoing.

—KMOV.com

A teenage boy, thought to be 15 or 16, was shot at an apartment complex in Arlington, Tex., early Wednesday. Upon being shot, the victim tried to break into the front door of a nearby supermarket. He was found in the supermarket’s parking lot. No word on possible suspects.

—CBS DFW

A junior high school student shot and wounded himself in the bathroom of his school in Smithville, Tex., Wednesday morning. The school was placed on a brief lockdown.

So, if we are counting correctly, there were 12 children shot in 8 different states. Of those, one was an accident or attempted suicide. One was an accidental shooting. All of the children suffered injuries with no deaths. Thank you to Joe Nocera and his staff for compiling the data about the many shootings occurring every day in the country.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Two people were charged Monday in connection with a Sunday morning shooting that wounded a child near Chili Avenue and Thurston Road. According to police, the 11-year-old boy is recovering at Strong Hospital, surrounded by family. The second victim has been arrested. 29-year-old Quentin Singletary, of Rochester, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Police said Singletary took part in the gun exchange that got him and the boy shot. Singletary got hit in the upper body and is expected to survive. Dominique Williams, 27, was also arrested, charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the third. Williams was not at the shooting scene but police said officers later recovered the gun inside the home she shares with Singletary. (...)

Police believe the third suspect knows Singletary and an argument escalated to the shooting. “The fact that this occurred on a Sunday at 10:30 in the morning, personally, I think it’s atrocious,” Sheppard said. “I think this neighborhood has to feel the same way and we’re hoping that once we push this information and push this photo someone will come forward." The 11-year-old is not connected to any of the suspects, police said he was in the wrong place and the wrong time and got caught in the crossfire.

Dickerson said Jesse Sellers, 23, was playing with a BB rifle, trying to scare his son, when he pulled the trigger.

Dickerson told CBS Atlanta News Jesse Sellers didn't realize the gun was loaded and that he said it was an accident. He said the child's grandmother performed CPR on the toddler.

Renee Holmes is the child's mother's cousin. She said Jesstin was the youngest of four children, and his mother was not doing well coping with his death. Holmes had this to say about Jesse Sellers, "They were deeply in love. He's torn. He's broken by this. Jesse is really a good father."

When police and paramedics arrived they found a semiautomatic handgun lying near his head. Police say the gun appeared to have been fired. The boy was rushed to the hospital with severe skull trauma. He was pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m.

Investigators are still trying to sort out exactly what happened. They say it's unclear who fired the gun.

The boy and his mother were the only ones in the house at the time of the incident.

Though it is not known yet whether the child shot himself, more information will come for this incident. We will publish further information as it is available. But we will say anyway:

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

A 12-year-old boy was killed Saturday afternoon in the woods near his house in Madison County in what authorities, and the boy’s father, are calling an accidental shooting.

Dax Dixon of Pratts, a small community in Madison, died Saturday afternoon while playing with a neighbor friend, the boy’s father, Dan Dixon, said Sunday.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office responded to what it described as an accidental shooting involving two juveniles shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, a news release said. Deputies found Dax Dixon dead at the scene, the release said.

The investigation is ongoing. The Sheriff’s Office would not comment further on Sunday.

Dan Dixon said he was at work at the time and did not know his son was at the neighbor’s house. He said his son had been staying with a relative over the weekend, and was unaware that the boy had been brought back to the neighborhood.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

A 5-year-old boy was found killed by a single-shot wound to the head in Vidor at approximately 2:45 p.m. Monday.

According to Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, they received a call to the at approximately 2:45 p.m. on a call of an unresponsive child on Scott Drive in North Vidor.

Investigators say the shooting happened in the 1200 block of Roberts Road. The child was being watched by a babysitter at his parent's home when the shooting occurred.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

When a disgruntled seventh-grader with a gun entered his classroom at Sparks Middle School on Monday, Landsberry rushed toward the student, attempting to shield his class and talk the gunman into dropping his weapon. Instead, the youth shot and killed Landsberry before wounding two more students and taking his own life. The news of Landsberry’s death has rocked the community of Sparks and neighboring Reno.

“In my estimation, he is a hero,” Tim Robinson, deputy chief of the Sparks police, said at an afternoon press conference. “We do know he was trying to intervene.”

CNN reports that both wounded students are in stable condition at a nearby hospital. Neither they nor the killer have been identified publicly due to their age. Authorities have, however, revealed that the 13-year-old killer used a handgun stolen from his parents' house in the shooting.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Back in September we wrote about a man who shot a 3 year old Texas boy in the face for no reason at all. ( September 3, 2013). Now a judge is reducing the bail for this heinous crime. From an article:

A judge reduced the bail Friday for a Dallas man accused of shooting an 8-year-old boy in the face last month.

Brian Cloninger, 46, has remained in the Dallas County jail since he was arrested Sept. 3 after police say he shot Donald Maiden Jr. in the face. District Judge Larry Mitchell lowered the bail from $2.2 million to $1 million after Cloninger’s attorney asked that the amount be reduced to $25,000.

Investigators believe Cloninger had been drinking before he shot Maiden at the boy’s Lake Highlands apartment complex, Prosecutor Tammy Kemp said at the hearing Friday.

At the time of the shooting, Cloninger was still serving a 15-month probationary sentence for a 2012 DWI in Travis County. He was charged in 2002 with driving under the influence in Palm Beach.

Cloninger was not allowed to consume alcohol while on probation, prosecutors said. Police found a beer can in his truck after the shooting.

Police said Maiden was outside his Lake Highlands apartment complex looking for his bike when Cloninger shot him. Maiden recently returned home after a month-long hospital stay.

Every day since returning home, Maiden asks his mother, Monique Locklin, to call to make sure Cloninger is still behind bars, Locklin said.

“He’s afraid,” she said. “And he doesn’t do well around people he’s not familiar with.”

Police said no witnesses saw the shooting, but several apartment residents told police they heard the shot. One witness approached Cloninger after the shooting to ask if he had shot the boy, Det. Paolo Sparacino said at the hearing.

Little boys should be able to play outside without being shot in the face for no reason.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

A 3-year-old boy from Kansas City, Missouri found a loaded, unlocked handgun on his father's bed. According to reports:

Police say the 3-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the stomach, after the boy's father left a loaded handgun lying on his bed. Just before 7 p.m. Monday night, the boy's father, Nate Steward, 34, said he returned home from the store with his 3-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter.

As Steward walked into his home with his children, he told police the handgun he was carrying inside his pants started to fall down his leg. Steward says he got into his house quickly so the gun would not fall out of his pants. Once inside, he says he placed the loaded handgun on his bed in the bedroom while his kids were in the living room and kitchen. The father then went to the back door to let one of his dogs out. While outside with the dog, Steward told police he heard a gunshot inside the home. He went back in to find his 3-year-old son bleeding and holding his stomach. The boy fell to the floor and Steward picked him up and rushed him to Children's Mercy Hospital in his own car.

The boy had surgery and should recover.

Police said when they arrived at the hospital they saw Steward's gun in plain view on the passenger seat of his car. The doors were unlocked and the windows rolled down. Anyone could have grabbed the gun.

Police did not indicate if Steward had a concealed weapons permit or if any charges will be filed.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Monday, October 7, 2013

A 4-year-old boy from La Plata, Maryland was playing outside his home. His grandmother was watching him. According to the police report:

The grandmother reported that the boy got into a car which was parked in the driveway and suddenly she heard a gunshot. The child ran to her and she noticed he had an injury to his head.

The child was flown to a hospital where it was learned he had a graze wound.

A computer check revealed the gun - a 9mm semi-automatic handgun - is registered to a member of the child's family. At this point, it is not clear why the gun was in the car and the investigation is continuing.

It should be noted that Maryland is one of the few states that requires registration of handguns. In the majority of states the police would not have been able to run a computer check on the gun to determine ownership.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Bullet holes are still visible on the front of an Overland Park home where an 8-year-old boy was shot Monday night in the 10000 block of Kessler.

Overland Park Police said the boy did not have life-threatening injuries. A neighbor told 41 Action News the boy was shot in his shoulder.

Two other children and an adult woman were at home Monday night at 11:30 p.m. when the shooting occured.

According to police, the shooter fired between five and 10 shots into the home. Neighbors reported hearing the shots and at least one neighbor saw a dark colored sedan speed away from the house after the shooting.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Witnesses said the victim was being chased before he was shot around 2:30 p.m. at Leland and Kimball, which is just across the street from Roosevelt High School, 3436 West Wilson. The suspect yelled a gang slogan before pulling the trigger, witnesses said.

"And then after that, the guy got shot in his leg and fell to the ground, and all I saw was a whole bunch of police start flooding the school," Darius Ortiz, witness, said.

Monday, September 23, 2013

A Horseshoe Bay boy is in critical condition after he accidentally shot himself in the chest Thursday, Horseshoe Bay Police said.

He was transported by ambulance to Dell Children's Hospital where he had his right lung removed. HSBPD say the 3-year-old boy's parents and a neighbor drove him to meet the ambulance on Thanksgiving Mountain.

Police went back to the victim's home with his parents where they found a loaded handgun on the kitchen table. The parents told police their son picked up the gun and it went off. They declined investigators' initial attempt to search the home.

After obtaining a search warrant, investigators learned the handgun they found was not the weapon involved in the shooting. They also uncovered more conflicting information.

One account said the victim's father hid the weapon in brush away from his house, but a search of the area didn't yield any results.

The suspected weapon was later found in a neighbor's home. Police say they found three handguns and a rifle that were taken there after the shooting.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

A Wisconsin dad is under fire for allegedly telling his 6-year-old son to lie about shooting his 4-year-old sister in the face.

The incident happened Aug. 30 in Alma, Wis., when the boy allegedly found a loaded shotgun and pointed it at the girl. The gun discharged, striking the girl in the right side of her head, WKBT reported.

The girl's injuries were deemed non-life-threatening, but on Monday investigators charged the father, Fred Maphis, with leaving a loaded firearm near a child and obstructing an officer by telling the son to lie about the shooting, the LaCrosse Tribune reported.

Further in the article:

The boy's mother told investigators that her son had been trained to use firearms since he was 3 and even had his own .22 caliber rifle that he was allowed to shoot with adult supervision, RawStory.com reported.

Maphis insisted that he had just forgotten to unload and secure the shotgun.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Lance Wilson 3, from Michigan City, Indiana was playing a
game with his mother’s boyfriend on Sunday around 3:30pm. Lance pointed his
finger at Zachariah Grisham 24, as if he was shooting him with a gun. Zachariah
pointed a real gun at Lance and shot him. Lance was pronounced dead at the
scene.

“A child and the defendant were playing a game. A child pointed his finger at the defendant like he was shooting gun playing a game and he pointed a gun out and shot the boy,” LaPorte County Prosecutor Bob Szilagyi told CBS Chicago.

The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the mobile home park in Michigan City, Ind., roughly 60 miles east of Chicago along the lakeshore.

Neighbors said Lance was sitting on Grisham’s lap when the gun went off and the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police tell the Post-Tribune Grisham was living in trailer with the boy’s mother. It was unclear if the mother was present at the time of the shooting.

Monday, September 16, 2013

A small child, "age 6 to 8," was attending a reading event in Lodi, California. A police officer, who was on the SWAT team, was attending the event when the child came up to him, reached for the gun, and fired it. The round hit the officer in the leg, injuring him. There was no safety on the weapon.

13-month old Londyn Samuels was returning from a trip to the park with her nanny, Keelan Armstrong, 18, in New Orleans, Louisiana.That's when a gunman opened fire on them, shooting twice. One of the rounds went through Armstrong's back and hit Londyn, in her arms, in the chest. Armstrong is recovering. Londyn died soon after the incident. She was just learning to walk.The gunman escaped.From an article:

Londyn Samuels, who was just learning to walk, was struck by a bullet fired into her 18-year-old nanny's back as she carried the toddler home from the park.

"What kind of a man would shoot at a woman holding a child?" Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said Friday as he pleaded for witnesses to the Thursday night slaying to come forward. "That's not the kind of person you want to protect."

Two shots were fired and one of them tore through the sitter's torso, hitting Londyn in the chest. The young woman, who was expected to survive, called the child's father in anguish.

Londyn's mother was working at a non-profit cafe dedicated to anti-violence when the shooting happened. She said at a news conference that she breaks down in tears every time she looks at a picture of her daughter.

"I'm hurt," Andrea Samuels, 22, said as she choked back sobs. "Because that was my baby."

Police said two men were seen running from the scene after the shooting and they released grainy surveillance photos. They did not provide a motive for the shooting, but said there was no gunfight and the two victims were not caught in any crossfire.

...

[Londyn's father] Reed said the death of the little girl who loved Minnie Mouse and was always smiling had left a hole in his heart.

"She just loved being around me and her mama. She was our world, you know? She was the highlight of every day," he said.

"She was always happy. When I was down, she would crawl in the bed with me and say, 'Dada,' and hit me in the face to make me smile."

As he mourned, he vented his anger toward the gunman.

"My daughter didn't do anything to him," he said. "Why did she have to die?"

Sunday, September 15, 2013

A 15-year old boy was shot and injured by an 18-year old fellow student at Carver High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.From an article:

Police say Christopher Lamont Richardson Jr. was arrested Friday and charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of firearm on school property, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and discharging a firearm within city limits.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting around 2:30 p.m. Friday at Carver High School in Winston-Salem. Police say the school had been conducted a fire drill when a school resource officer heard shots fired.

A 15-year-old student was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

A stray bullet, apparently fired during a gang confrontation, struck a school bus in Camden on Thursday afternoon, frightening a busload of 27 preschool children.

One mother reported that her young son suffered a burn mark on his back from a shard that came from the bus window that was shattered. The bullet lodged in the ceiling of the bus, according to authorities.

The child, who was not identified, was treated at a hospital, Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson said during a 6 p.m. news conference outside police headquarters.

Thomson said the shooting was gang-related and called the at-large shooter a "public enemy." He said a $20,000 reward was being offered for tips leading to his arrest.

"This guy is Public Enemy No. 1," Thomson said. "He clearly displayed sociopathic behavior by firing a rifle in broad daylight in a densely populated area, with an oncoming bus full of children. . . . We need to get him off the streets."

Thomson said the bus was carrying pupils between the ages of 3 and 5, and was leaving the Centerville Abbott Head Start school at 1475 S. Eighth St. to make a series of drop-offs.

Little children should be able to ride in a school bus without fear of being hit by stray bullets.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

A 2-year old boy, Kyle Moses, was staying the night with his mother and other family members at

a home in Tununak, Alaska. That's when Kyle's father, Edward Moses, entered the home with a shotgun and ordered everyone out at gunpoint except for his son. After allowing the boy to talk to his aunt via phone, he then shot Kyle in the head, killing him. The father was later arrested after a standoff. Kyle's body was found soon afterward nearby.The father apparently killed the boy because he was unhappy about the mother being with another man.From an article:

In an affidavit filed with the charges in state court in Bethel Saturday, a state trooper said Moses entered a home in the village where the child was staying with his mother on Thursday night. Moses later shot the child in the head, and told troopers afterward he was upset with his child's mother for being with another man, troopers said. ...

According to the affidavit, when Moses entered the home in Tununak, he "was carrying a shotgun and a bucket which (a witness) believed to have homebrew in it."He told everyone to exit the house except for his son, and ordered them to leave their cell phones behind, the affidavit said.

When one of the women in the home didn't immediately comply, "Edward racked his shotgun, chambered a round, and then pointed the shotgun" at her. She dropped her phone and left for a neighbor's house, she told troopers.

An aunt of the child told troopers Moses called her later Thursday night demanding to speak with the child's mother, according to the affidavit. Moses gave the aunt 15 minutes to find the child's mother, the trooper wrote, or he would kill the child, then himself.

As the 15 minutes neared, Moses called back, and Moses could be heard tellng the child to say goodbye to his aunt, the trooper affidavit said. The aunt then heard a gunshot over the phone, the trooper said in the court filing.

When troopers arrived in the village on Friday, Moses was barricaded inside his father's house, and surrendered after several hours of negotiations, troopers said.

He told the officers he had shot the child, and said he was "upset at (the child's mother) for being with another man and didn't think she should be burdened with their son," the trooper's affidavit said.

Troopers said the child's body was found down the beach from the Moses house, with an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

Monday, September 9, 2013

19-year-old Bryan Reno, of Cleveland County, North Carolina had just bought a handgun through a private sale. According to a news report:

On Friday evening, while his 35-year-old wife Pamela slept, Reno showed the gun to his 11-year-old stepdaughter. At one point, Reno removed the magazine slide from the firearm and handed the .380-caliber gun to her to examine.
"During the course of her looking at the firearm, it's apparent that she pulled the trigger of the firearm and it discharged," said the sheriff. "It just appears he failed to check the chamber to make sure there was not a bullet in the chamber, and it turned fatal."

Sunday, September 8, 2013

A child died of a gunshot wound on Saturday at a popular campground in Yellowstone National Park, according to park officials, who said the girl's mother reported that her young daughter had shot herself with a handgun.

Emergency responders were unable to resuscitate the girl after her mother called emergency dispatchers from a campsite near Yellowstone Lake, park spokesman Al Nash said in a statement.

The names of the mother and girl in the incident, which is under investigation, were not released pending notification of extended family members, Nash said. The child's age was also not released.

A U.S. law that took effect in 2010 allowed people to carry guns into national parks as long as federal, state and local firearms laws were met, according to the National Park Service.

Although hunting is permitted at a handful of national parks, including Grand Teton in Wyoming, hunting or even firing a gun is unlawful in Yellowstone, according to park literature.

The forested campsite where the shooting occurred sits near a developed area in the Wyoming section of the park known as Grant Village, which features a ranger station, lodge, stores and other amenities.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

A Carlsbad, N.M., teenager has been arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter after allegedly shooting and killing his 12-year-old cousin with a handgun that he thought was unloaded. According to KASA.com, these tragic events began when 12-year-old Jeremy Hatfield pointed a BB gun at 15-year-old Michael Schultz, who reciprocated by producing an actual handgun and pulling the trigger. Schultz initially told police that Hatfield had died in a drive-by shooting, before allegedly admitting that he was the one who shot him. Now, he could face up to two years in juvenile detention.

Underage shooters in unintentional shootings like these are not usually charged with crimes, and I suspect Schultz’s initial lies to police—along with his relatively advanced age, as these sorts of shootings go—had a lot to do with why he was charged. While Schultz isn’t entirely blameless here, and while he definitely shouldn’t have told the police such a stupid lie, I don’t think that the charge should stand.

New Mexico state courts have maintained that “the culpable state of mind for involuntary manslaughter ‘comprehends evidence of an utter irresponsibility on the part of the defendant or of a conscious abandonment of any consideration for … safety.’ ” In other words, to get a conviction, a prosecutor must demonstrate that the defendant really ought to have known better. And yet, children can’t generally be expected to know better, or to realize that they are being dangerously reckless. Teenage brains are still developing, and, because of this, teenagers are prone to impulsive behavior and terrible decisions—like pointing a gun at a cousin. Schultz certainly should have known that that sort of behavior is inappropriate. But did he consciously abandon all safety considerations? I think that’d be hard to prove.

If the involuntary-manslaughter charge against Schultz stands, the case will probably be tried in juvenile court, which is some small consolation, at least. But the case shouldn’t end there. Police do not yet know how Schultz got the gun, though Hatfield’s grandfather apparently said that Schultz may have obtained it from a friend. Whatever the gun’s provenance, its owner ought to face charges, too.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Friday, September 6, 2013

The parents of an 8-year-old Dallas boy shot in the face Tuesday night say he is improving, even though he still needs a breathing tube and remains listed in critical but stable condition. Donald Maiden, Jr., called DJ by family and friends, was shot while playing at this Lake Highlands apartment complex. On Thursday, his parents spoke exclusively to CBS 11 News.

“When he ran in I just screamed,” said Latamarin Locklin, DJ’s mother, recalling how the boy looked as he ran home after the shooting. “His mouth was just hanging off and it was just a big hole,” she said. Locklin remembers a neighbor urging her to put pressure on her son’s mouth. “ I just threw him on the couch and laid him in my arms and put pressure on his mouth with the towel.”

“When I first saw him in ICU I started crying,” Donald Maiden, Sr. said of his son. DJ’s father was working in Louisiana. The boy was in a medically-induced coma when Dad first saw him. “I just put my head down in his bed and was holding his hand at the same time. And he opened his eyes. And when I raised back up I looked and there were tears rolling down his eyes and it gave me a little bit of spirit in my heart. It was joy, I guess he was kind of happy to know I was there. “

DJ was shot “out of the blue,” according to his mom, by a man driving a pickup truck who’d been hanging around her apartment complex.

Police arrested Brian Cloninger and are holding him on a $2.2 million dollar bond. Locklin says investigators are very helpful, but there’s still one huge unanswered question. “I just want to know why. Why?”

Children should be able to play in their homes without fear of being shot.

A 2-month-old boy, struck by a stray bullet and critically injured Thursday night, is the latest in a string of incidents involving north Minneapolis children caught in crossfire.

Cyndi Barrington, Minneapolis police spokeswoman, said preliminary information indicates the baby was struck about 9 p.m. while being held by his father outside a home in the 2400 block of Emerson Av. N. The father told police he heard a loud bang, looked down and saw his baby had been hit, Barrington said.

The baby was listed in critical condition at Hennepin County Medical Center late Thursday night.

Police were canvassing the neighborhood in search of witnesses, information and the shooter. “A motive is unknown,” Barrington said.

Children being shot “should not be happening,” she said. “From the police perspective, we have cops out here working 24/7 and they won’t stop. But this absolutely unacceptable and the community should be outraged.”

Thursday’s shooting comes on the heels of two separate shootings this summer that wounded two other children. Two weeks ago, a 14-month-old girl, a pregnant 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy were shot when a man approached a group of people as they stood outside a parked car, fired repeatedly and then ran. And in June, a 4-year-old boy was shot along with two adults as they sat in a car.

The circumstances leading to the critical wounding of a 2-month-old boy Thursday night in north Minneapolis are not as initially believed, police said late Friday morning, and they are now calling the shooting accidental.

After reinterviewing the father of the victim, police now say that the shooting occurred inside the duplex in the 2400 block of Emerson Avenue N. and that the baby’s uncle, a juvenile in his late teens, accidentally fired the shot that wounded the baby.

The juvenile fled and has yet to be located, police added. No description of the teen is being released at this time, and officers “are out looking for him now,” police spokeswoman Cyndi Barrington said shortly before noon Friday.

“Investigators believe that this was an accidental shooting, no other suspects are being sought and the public is not a risk,” police said in a statement.

When police arrived shortly after the shooting about 9 p.m., they found a man holding his wounded son. The baby had been shot in the neck.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The New York Times' Joe Nocera has been writing his Gun Report now since the Sandy Hook shooting last December. He took a breather but came back today with a list of the shootings just over the last Labor Day week-end. By our count there were 17 incidents involving the death or injury of children as young as 1 and as old as 17 years old. You can read about them in the report. Some of these were homicides and some accidental shootings.

Here is the beginning of the report just from last Friday:

A 1-year-old girl was fatally shot in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans, La., Thursday night, and her 18-year-old babysitter was shot and wounded. A 3-year-old boy was grazed in the arm and a 36-year-old man was shot in the leg on a playground in the West Farms section of the Bronx., N.Y., Friday evening. A 6-year-old girl and a man were shot after an argument on a basketball court on the East End of Richmond, Va., Thursday afternoon.

A 13-year-old boy was shot and killed as he rode his bicycle home from a party in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver, Colo., Friday night. A 15-year-old was shot at Carver High School in Winston-Salem, N.C., Friday afternoon, and an 18-year-old student was arrested. A 16-year-old boy was shot during a confrontation in Covina, Calif., Friday night. A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot when a hunting rifle discharged at a friend’s house inDrain, Ore., Thursday night.

A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed in a residential neighborhood in northStockton, Calif., Friday night. A 17-year-old boy was killed in a possibly gang-related shooting in the Avalon Park neighborhood of Chicago, Ill., Thursday afternoon.

The shooting incidents happened in 8 different states from California to Louisiana to New York to Virginia to Oregon to Illinois to North Carolina to Colorado. Some were due to access to guns by children and teens who should not be able to get their hands on guns.

As we always say on this blog- Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Thank you to Joe Nocera and his fellow writer Jennifer Mascia for monitoring shootings and providing this information.

Monday, September 2, 2013

A 1-year-old boy in a stroller was fatally shot in the face as his parents pushed him across a city street, and police continued looking for the gunman Monday.

Antiq Hennis and his parents were walking across a street in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn at about 7:20 p.m. Sunday when shots were fired and the boy was hit, police said. Investigators have yet to determine who was the intended target, and no arrests have been made, police said Monday.

"The family is shocked and devastated," City Councilman Charles Barron told the Daily News after talking with Antiq's parents. "The child didn't even get a chance to start his life, and now it's over."

It was at least the second case of a toddler being shot to death in a stroller this year.

In March, a woman walking home from a post office in Brunswick, Ga., with her 13-month-old son was accosted by a gunman who demanded her purse, then shot her in the leg and fired a shot at the child in his stroller after she told him she had no money, authorities said.

An 18-year-old man was convicted Friday of murder in the death of Antonio Santiago despite his attorney's attempts to cast guilt upon several others, including the child's parents.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

"A toddler injured in a shooting that left her 22-year-old pregnant mother dead in Brown County is "improving," the child's father said Friday.

Brittany Stykes, of Ripley, was found shot to death Wednesday evening inside a car that crashed along a stretch of U.S. Route 68.

Stykes was found inside her Jeep about a half-mile from the intersection of U.S. Route 68 and Gooselick Road before 8 p.m. She was with her 14-month-old daughter, Aubree, who received a head wound.

Shane Stykes, Aubree's father, was laying in bed with his daughter inside Cincinnati Children's Hospital Friday and told NewsChannel5’s sister station WCPO that the toddler is breathing on her own.

"I'd say she's going to be here for a while," Shane Stykes said.

Stykes and Aubree were found by Craig Labell, who pulled over and called 911 when he saw their vehicle. He initially thought Stykes had simply driven her SUV off the road and into a wooded area between Georgetown and Ripley.

"There's a Jeep off the road in the woods. Looks like somebody drove off the road into the woods and they're passed out at the wheel. Looks a like a girl, female in her 20s or 30s," he told a Brown County dispatcher.

Law enforcement officials responded to the call expecting to investigate a single-vehicle accident. But once at the scene they found Stykes slouched over the steering wheel with multiple gunshot wounds.

She had been shot at least once in the head, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Stykes was four months pregnant.

Brown County authorities said multiple bullets had been fired through the driver's side of the vehicle and passed through the passenger side.

Labell also found Aubree inside the vehicle. She was covered in blood and crying, he told the 911 operator.

"There's a baby in the car seat…The baby is bloody, but conscious,” he told the dispatcher before turning his attention back to Stykes. “I'm trying to see if the mother's breathing."

Investigators said Aubree was at least grazed by one of the bullets that contributed to the death of her mother. They said the bullet passed through Stykes, hit the driver's headrest and struck the infant in the head.

The child, who was conscious and crying at the scene, was initially transported to Southwest Regional Medical Center in Georgetown, Ohio to be treated."

Monday, August 26, 2013

This case is almost too tragic. An 8 year old boy apparently intentionally shot his 90 year old caregiver:

Louisiana law enforcement officials say an 8-year-old boy intentionally shot and killed his elderly caregiver Thursday evening after playing the video game "Grand Theft Auto."

According to WAFB-TV, the shooting, which the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office has called a homicide, took place in a mobile home park near Slaughter, La. The woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was reportedly found with a gunshot wound to the head. It is believed that the 8-year-old shot her while she was in the living room watching television.

"Although a motive for the shooting is unknown at this time, investigators have learned that the juvenile suspect was playing a video game on the Play Station III "Grand Theft Auto IV", a realistic game that has been associated with encouraging violence and awards points to players for killing people, just minutes before the homicide occurred," a statement issued by the Sheriff's Office said.

As Fox News notes, "Grand Theft Auto" is rated "M" for mature audiences and recommended for teens and adults aged 17 and older.

The woman, who has been identified as Marie Smothers, has been described as the "current caregiver" of the boy. It is, however, still unclear what her relationship was with the child. There is also conflicting information as to Smothers' age, with some news outlets identifying her as an 87-year-old woman and others indicating that she was 90.

The boy, whose identity has not been made known, has reportedly been released into the custody of his parents. According to the Advocate, the boy will likely not be charged with the crime because of his age, as dictated by Louisiana law.

Though the 8-year-old initially told investigators that the shooting was an accident, police say they believe the boy intentionally shot Smothers. But Law enforcement officials also said the child is believed to have had a "normal, loving, relationship" with the victim.

The gun used in the shooting is thought to have belonged to Smothers, according to the Advocate.

Experts have long debated -- and are still divided on -- the matter of whether or not violent video games, TV shows and movies trigger aggressive behavior in young people.

In April, a study published in the journal Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice claimed to show a link between violent video games and youth violence. That same month, however, an associate professor at Villanova University wrote that research had not found a "clear link between playing violent video games and real world violence."

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.